With the IMI Europe Inkjet Ink Development Conference taking place on 13-14 April, 2016, WTiN’s Tansy Fall caught up with IMI’s Dr Tim Phillips to discuss the conference and also take a closer look at the progress of the digital textile printing industry, with a particular focus on inks.
Dr Maiju Pöysti of Biolin Scientific explains how surface tension measurements are performed, and how the specific conditions for inkjet printing lead to additional complications in surface contact angle measurement.
Dr Kai Bär of Adphos reviews the key part that the ink drying process has on print performance, including the impact on adhesion on the substrate, penetration into the substrate, rub resistance and print quality.
Tracey Norton from IGM Resins explains the background to radiation curing materials for inkjet inks and how recent advances are aiding implementation in LED curing and food packaging applications.
Tim Phillips looks at the fundamental issues facing ink developers, including the trade-off between application performance and printability, carrier choice, dispersion quality, characterisation and application-specific issues.